The process of divorce by pronouncing talaq three times over three months can only be started if a couple fail to reconcile by other ways, says Board’s lawyer to SC.

The government has backed the attempt to outlaw triple talaq while the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has defended triple talaq.

NEW DELHI: The All India Muslim Woman Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) has argued in the Supreme Court that instant triple talaq was not sanctioned bythe Quranand hence invalid even under personal laws framed for Muslims.

“Far from being fundamental or sacramental to Islam, it is an extremely dangerous concept which violates every good thing Quran prescribes. All laws, rules, regulations that lack elements of compassion, kindness and concern, by no definition can be said to be part of Islam,” AIMWPLB advocate Arif Mohammed Khan told a five-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar.“It is like taking society to pre-Islamic times when they use to bury women alive.”

He told the bench that the Quran recognises only four forms of talaq, and they did not include instant talaq. Nor was Nikaah halala — temporary marriage to third parties before a couple which has undergone triple talaq can get together — permissible in the Quran, he said.

Echoing arguments by senior advocate Salman Khurshid, Khan said that if there were differences between a couple, there has to be counseling for the spouses. If that fails, then the couple is asked not to co-habit. Then there is an arbitration process when a relative each of the partners try to bridge the differences between the couple. Only if all these methods fail then, can the husband start the process of divorce by pronouncing talaq three times over three months. For this, the Quran prescribes three months’ Iddat period, Khan said.

“The purpose of having such a lengthy process was enjoined in the Quran as God wanted to create conditions for the couple to unite… this is the concept of cooling period,” he said. Khan’s argument came on day two before the bench hearing a batch of petitions filed by several individuals and organisations challenging the legality of triple talaq in the light of constitutional guarantees of equality to all women.

The government has backed the attempt to outlaw triple talaq while the All India Muslim Personal Law Board represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal has defended triple talaq and urged the court to stay out of Muslim personal laws.